Panini America is readying a second series of Donruss baseball cards in the year of its return to the baseball field and it will arrive soon — Aug. 6 to be exact.

Series 2 will include two autographs per box as well as a Bat King or a Jersey King memorabilia card along with a selection of inserts and base cards capping the first release.

Panini promises it will pack more than 50 inserts and parallel cards in every 24-pack box with eight cards per pack and 16 boxes per case, though a set size was not announced.

There will be a new crop of Rated Rookies — this time Jose Abreu and Masahiro Tanaka get put into packs along with Jon Singleton, George Springer, Oscar Taveras and other recent call-ups.

New for this series will be autographed Recollection Collection cards where there will be signatures from Albert Pujols as well as other present-day and past players. Also to be found are Turn of the Century autographs with 100 rookies and veterans signing cards. These also will have Status diecut versions limited to 49 copies.

The Elite Series returns with standard insert cards limited to just 999 copies led by Derek Jeter, while Passing the Torch returns with autographed cards pairing past and present or rookie and veteran players.

Jersey Kings cards return for the first time in nearly a decade with a Studio patch parallel on canvas stock as well as a Bat Kings version to chase. The primes will be limited to just 25 copies.

Also to be found will be Diamond Kings, Rated Rookies, The Rookies, Elite, Elite Series, Elite Dominator, Face to Face, Elite Series Dual, Stat Line, Press Proof and Elite Status insets.

Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Baseball and Beckett Sports Card Monthly magazines. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an email to him at colds@beckett.com. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here.

6 Comments

Brian Blankenburg

I think Panini is doing a GREAT job with the Donruss. I’ve mainly been a Topps guy, but it sure is nice seeing some Diamond Kings again. I’ve always thought the Diamond Kings were the prettiest cards ever. With all the inserts and parallels, I think I’ll be getting a couple of boxes. I especially like the design this year, it’s an uncluttered tribute to some of the busy designs of the original. All in all, I think this is a hit for Panini, so well done Panini.

Awesome- another series of looking at inferior side view photos of players, mainly looking at the numbeers on their backs- because they do not have an MLB license! Waste of time-and money. Panini should focus more on the sports that they have a license to market, and do a more creative job on those products.

I’ve seen a couple different collectors refer to the cursive script as reminiscent of that used on Topps’s 1978 set, and while I understand the sentiment, I don’t agree. If you look closely at the script on the ’78 Topps cards (place a ’78 Topps and ’14 Donruss side-by-side), you’ll quickly see it is a different cursive font — all easily legibly cursive fonts look vaguely similar.

Aside from that, it’s clear that 2014 Donruss is borrowing from the 1987 set.